Orthopedic braces



April 23, 1963. H. R. FROHMADER 3,036,522

` oRTHoPEvIc BRAcEs Filed June 26, 1961 2 sheets-sheet 1 3 JNVENToR. 4, 2, HARLEY RA FROHMADER i BY ATTORN EYS April 23, 1963 H. R. FROHMADER 3,086,522

ORTHOPEDIC BRACES Filed June 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HARLEY R. FROH MADER ATTOR NEYS United States Patent O 3,086,522 ORTHOPEDIC BRACES Harley R. Frohmader, 14411 W. Cleveland, New Berlin, Wis. Filed .lune 26, 1961, Ser. No. 119,622 7 Claims. (Cl. 12S-80) My invention relates to orthopedic braces and more particularly to a foot and leg brace to correct improper deformities of the limb.

It is more or less common practice to use orthopedic braces -to correct deformed limbs of infants. These limbs may be unnaturally twisted or distorted with relation to the normal and desired form of limb. In order to correct these deformities, brace structures are applied to the deformed limb in order to force its growth toward the normal position or disposition. A major purpose of the present invention is the provision of an improved brace structure for application to a deformed leg or foot, and with the structure being so formed that it enables corrective forces to be applied to the leg and foot in many varied directions.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a device that is -constructed in a manner that will permit it to be adjusted and retained at any predetermined position after adjustment.

Still another object of my invention is to pr-ovide a device of the character described that retains the leg and thigh portion in many angular relations, while preventing any relative displacement.

Another object of my device is to provide a structure that permits convenient application of cushions and padding to conform to the contour of the muscles and bone structure of the limb being serviced.

A still further object is to provide a device that permits variant angular disposition of the l:foot in relation to the leg.

The device described, illustrated and claimed herein is applicable to either the right or left leg and adjustable to take care of variations in size as the childs foot and leg develops. It is simple in constructionl and is easy to apply or remove.

`Other and further objects of my invention Will become more apparent as the description proceeds, when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of the entire assembled device applied to the limb, shown in phantom;

IFIGURE 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the device shown in FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a top or plan View of the base showing the angularly adjustable support plates; 4

FIGURE 4 is a similar view as shown in FIGURE 3 with the plates equipped with pliable foot supports;

FIGURE 5 is a side view of the device applied to the limb shown in phantom and illustrating the foot portion angularly disposed and retained in that position with the toe portion of the foot higher than the heel;

FIGURE 6 is a rear view of the device illustrating the manner in which the toot may be angularly disposed in either direction sideways relative -to the leg;

FIGURE 7 shows a side view of a modified clamp construction applied to the thigh -above the knee of the patient illustrating a hinge arrangement for its construction to permit angular adjustment; and

FIGURE 8 is a front View of the structure shown in FIGURE 7.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and referring now to the same, the character 10 designates a base portion, which forms a foot support. Base y10 may be constructed of any lightweight rigid material, such as wood, plastic or the like. Obviously this base portion 10 may be of 3,086,522 Patented Apr. 23, 1963 any shape or contour to conform to the shape of the foot of the wearer and may be equipped with a metal top plate shown as v11 covering the upper face of the base 10 and attached thereto by means of the screws shown as i12, or in any other convenient manner.

The base 10 is shown provided with elongated recesses 13 and 13' and the plate 11 is equipped with a pair of spaced, elongated slots shown as 14 and 15 extending longitudinally of base 10. These slots accommodate bolts i16 and I17, respectively, extending upwardly therethrough yfrom the recesses 13 and 13. The bolts have nuts 28 mounted thereon, engaging T-shaped grooves 18 and 19, respectively, recessed in the undersurfaces of the blocks 20 and 21, respectively. lBlocks 20 and 21 are adapted to be turned with relation to the upper surface of the plate 11. In the normal position, the grooves 18 and 19 extend at right angles to the elongated slots 14 and 15, as appears in FIGURES 1 and 3. This arrangement permits the pivoted movement of the blocks V20 and 21 to any predetermined position or angle, as shown in the dotted lines in FIGURE 3.

A swivel ball joint mounting is attached to the top plate 11 at'the rear thereof by means of rivets 23, as shown in AFIGURE 2. lMounting 22 supports a leg support in the form of a rod 24 extending upwardly therefrom. Rod `24 is adapted to be held in a selected tixed position by means of the set screws 25, which engage the ball on the end of r-od 24. A tubular sleeve 26 slidably engages the upper end of rod 24 and is held in any predetermined position by the set screw 27, which engages rod 24.

The upper end of the sleeve 26 has a soft pliable band 28 attached thereto. This band may be constructed of leather, cloth, plastic or the like and is shown equipped with eyelets 29 Ifor accommodating a lace y(not shown). lObviously any -type of fastening such as a buckle or the like may be employed. Band 28, which is adapted to be tted around the upper leg or thigh, permits attachment of the device to a point above the knee of the wearers leg, which is shown as 30 by the dotted lines.

Sleeve 26 also has a bracket 31 slidably mounted thereon for supporting a band 32 adjustably mounted on the bracket 3'1 by means of the bolt and slot connection 33. A set screw 34 holds bracket 31 in a lixed position on the sleeve 26, while permitting angular and height adjustment of band 32 with respect to the axis of rod 24.

In FIGURES 7 and 8 the band 28 is hingedly attached to the top of the sleeve 26 by means of the member 44 attached to the band 28 andthe member 45 attached to the sleeve 26 and hingedly engaged by the screw 43 so the band 28 may be pivoted about the axis of screw 43 and then retained in any selected position to one side or the other of the axis of the leg supporting rod 24.

I-f desired, another bracket shown at 35 may slidably engage the rod 24 below bracket 31. This bracket is lixed in position by the set screw 36. This bracket is similar to bracket 31. A band 37 is adjustably mounted at 38 on the bracket '35 -for adjustment radially of rod 24.

The bands 32 and 37 are constructed similar to the ban-d '28, are made from soft pliable material and are held by means of buckles or laces. These bands readily permit the support and engagement of padding or the like.

The front block 20 is shown with an upwardly extended soft pliable band 39, which band may also be provided with lacking or buckles to support the forward or toe portion of the foot. Block 21 is shown with a counter portion 41 of a shoe ty-pe construction mounted thereon to support the heel portion of the foot. The counter portion 41 is also shown with lacing similar to the toe portion or band 39. This arrangement permits the support of the ankle together with the heel portion of the foot. The toe band 39 and the counter portion 41 may be connected together by means of t-he strap and slot arrangement.

The two blocks 20 and 21 are spaced from one another. They may be variantly spaced longitudinally of support and may have variant lateral and angular positions relative to one another and to the support `10. They are retained in a fixed position by means of the bolts 16 and 17 to support the foot in any predetermined position or angle -for the correction of the deformities.

From the above description it will be seen that the device will retain the foot at any selected disposition relative to the thigh and lower leg by means of the straps 28, 32 and 37, the strap 28 being applied to the thigh and the straps 32 and 37 to the leg of the wearer.

The brace shown and described herein is easily used Yfor many corrective situations. For example, it may be used to correct the disposition of the plane of the lfoot relative to the lower leg by twisting the foot support 10 upwardly or downwardly with relation to the leg support 24 and then xing it in position as is shown in FIGURE 5. The device may be used to twist the general plane of the foot relative to the lower leg, by twisting the general plane of the support 10 relative to the lower leg and the leg support 24 as appears in FIGURE 6. The lower leg may be positioned at selected angular dispositions relative to the upper leg through proper adjustment of the band 28 relative to the leg support 24 as appears in FIGURES 7 and 8. The foot of t-he wearer may have lateral forces applied thereto by proper positioning of the blocks 20 and 21 on the support 10 so that the `foot and ankle structure are forced toward the normal position. Since each of the blocks 20 and 21 individually and independently fixed in position, the forward portion of the foot may be adjusted relative to the heel portion by setting the blocks 20 and 21 at desired lateral positions on the support 10 and with the blocks twisted about axes prependicular to the plane of t-he support 10 with relation to one another as appears in FIGURE 4.

The struct-ure is easily formed and lixed in the selected and desired position of rigidity so as to apply the desired corrective forces to the limb of the wearer.

Whereas I have shown and described in operative form of the invention, it should be understood that this showing and description thereof should be taken in an illustrative or diagrammatic sense only. There are many modilications in and to the invention which will fall within the scope and spirit thereof and which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention should be limited only by the scope of the hereinafter appended claims.

I claim:

l. An orthopedic corrective appliance for the foot and leg including a generally at foot support having a forward portion and rearward portion, an upstanfding leg support, means swivelly mounting said leg support on the rearward portion of said foot support, means holding said leg support at a selected angular disposition relative to said foot support, said leg support including means adapted for attachment to the leg of the user, and yfoot restraining members on the forward and rearward portion of said foot support, each foot restraining member including a block and a holding member positioned thereon, said holding member being formed and adapted to grip and hold a portion of the foot on said block, means mounting each restraining member on said foot support for adjustment laterally thereof independently of each other and `for rotary adjustment about an axis extending generally perpendicular for the general plane of said foot support, to thereby enable selective twisting of the front and rear portions of the users foot relative to one another and twisting of said foot relative to the leg of the user.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the means swivelly mounting said leg support on the rearward portion of said foot support comprises a ball and socket joint and wherein means are provided for holding said supports in a selected position relative to one another.

3. The `structure of claim 1 wherein each -foot restraining block includes a T-shaped slot on the undersurface thereof and extending laterally thereof, said foot support including spaced sl-ots extending generally radially from said leg support, a bolt passed through each slot on said support, and a nut threaded on said bolt and in sliding engagement with each T-shaped slot, so as to tix each block in a selected position radially of said leg support, and laterally of and angularly with respect to said foot support.

4. The structure of claim 1 characterized by and including a thigh embracing member, means mounting said thigh embracing member on said leg support for rotation about the axis thereof, said mounting means including means for holding said thigh embracing member in a selected position.

5. The struc-ture of claim 1 characterized by and including a lower leg embracing member, and adjustable means mounting said lower leg embracing member on said leg support for adjustment toward and away from said support.

6. The structure of claim l wherein the foot holding member on the forward block is in the form of flexible straps adapted to embrace the toe portion of the foot and the foot holding member on the rear block is in the form of a counter portion for a shoe.

`7. The structure of claim 1 characterized by and including a thigh embracing member, means mounting said thigh embracing member on Isaid leg support for rotation about the axis of said leg support and for tilting adjustment thereon, and means for holding said thigh embracing member in a vselected position relative to said leg support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 9,472 Hussey Dec. 14, 1852 265,942 Burns Oct. 17, 1882 2,871,851 Swanson Feb. 3, 1959 2,959,169 Bless Nov. 8, 1960 2,967,360 Rice Jau. 10, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,138,963 France Feb. 4, 1957 1,087,175 France Aug. 18, 1954 

1. AN ORTHOPEDIC CORRECTIVE APPLIANCE FOR THE FOOT AND LEG INCLUDING A GENERALLY FLAT FOOT SUPPORT HAVING A FORWARD PORTION AND REARWARD PORTION, AN UPSTANDING LEG SUPPORT, MEANS SWIVELLY MOUNTING SAID LEG SUPPORT ON THE REARWARD PORTION OF SAID FOOT SUPPORT, MEANS HOLDING SAID LEG SUPPORT AT A SELECTED ANGULAR DISPOSITION RELATIVE TO SAID FOOT SUPPORT, SAID LEG SUPPORT INCLUDING MEANS ADAPTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO THE LEG OF THE USER, AND FOOT RESTRAINING MEMBERS ON THE FORWARD AND REARWARD PORTION OF SAID FOOT SUPPORT, EACH FOOT RESTRAINING MEMBER INCLUDING A BLOCK AND A HOLDING MEMBER POSITIONED THEREON, SAID HOLDING MEMBER BEING FORMED AND ADAPTED TO GRIP AND HOLD A PORTION OF THE FOOT ON SAID BLOCK, MEANS MOUNTING EACH RESTRAINING MEMBER ON SAID FOOT SUPPORT FOR ADJUSTMENT LATERALLY THEREOF INDEPENDENTLY OF EACH OTHER AND FOR ROTARY ADJUSTMENT ABOUT AN AXIS EXTENDING GENERALLY PERPENDICULAR FOR THE GENERAL PLANE OF SAID FOOT SUPPORT, TO THEREBY ENABLE SELECTIVE TWISTING OF THE FRONT AND REAR PORTIONS OF THE USER''S FOOT RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER AND TWISTING OF SAID FOOT RELATIVE TO THE LEG OF THE USER. 